★ Field guide that pays for itself in one lesson

PILOTRULES

Stop paying for hours that teach you nothing

Wasted dual time burns money at cockpit prices. This illustrated field guide shows how to cut deadweight lessons, protect your budget, and finish training faster — without cutting corners on safety.

Save Money — Get the Book · $9.99 Read Free Preview

Kindle & Kindle Unlimited · 19 rules · Built by a PC-12 captain / CFI

19 Rules of Flight Training — book cover $9.99

The Real Cost of Flight School

Unstructured training is the most expensive habit in aviation.

Most students don’t fail from lack of talent. They bleed time and money repeating lessons they weren’t ready for, flying without a plan, and learning ground school in a $250-an-hour cockpit.

$200–$350 Typical cost per dual hour (plane + instructor)
5–10 hrs Wasted dual time many students buy before they even know why
$1,000–$3,500 What those “do-over” hours can quietly cost you

You already know flying isn’t cheap. The question is whether you’ll spend like a professional — or pay tuition to your own mistakes.

Do the Math

One saved lesson pays for this book a hundred times over.

This isn’t about flying less. It’s about buying productive hours — and skipping the expensive ones that teach you nothing new.

Without a plan

You rent the air until it clicks

  • Arrive underprepared → redo the same maneuvers
  • Pay Hobbs while learning radios & flows
  • Chase schools and instructors who waste your slot
  • Stretch training weeks into months of dead cost

With the 19 Rules

You buy progress on purpose

  • Finish ground work before the prop turns
  • Demand structured lessons every time
  • Pay smart — not “pay forever”
  • Keep a clear path from first flight to checkride

Imagine this: you walk into the next lesson already briefed, flows rehearsed, radios sharp. The clock still runs — but this time it buys skill, not catch-up.

Book price: $9.99 · Cost of one avoidable dual hour: often $200+

The Fix

Nineteen rules that keep the Hobbs meter honest.

19 Rules: Secrets to Pilot Training in the United States is a short, blunt field guide for students who want results without burning the bank. Each rule is illustrated so it sticks — not another textbook you’ll forget in the briefing room.

Drawn from flight decks, hangars, and checkride briefings by a working PC-12 captain and CFI. Built to influence what you do next week: how you prepare, who you fly with, and how you spend.

Peek Inside

Rules you can recall under pressure.

A core principle, three field-tested takeaways, and nose-art that makes the lesson memorable — so you don’t relearn it at $250 an hour.

Rule 1 — Complete Ground School
Rule 8 — Aircraft Ownership
Rule 15 — Old-School Fundamentals

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Remember Everything

All 19 rules in one word: PILOT

Five pillars. Five mini-checklists. Carry the whole book into the next briefing — without another binder.

P

Prepare

PREP

Plan · Rehearse · Exam first · Practice fundamentals

I

Invest in Your Cadre

CADRE

Crew up · Appreciate · Departments · Role models · Experienced pilots

L

Lead Like a Pro

PRO

Pay smart · Research schools · Own strategically

O

Operate Like an Ace

ACE

Anticipate · Conditions · Exacting precision

T

Thrive & Stay Safe

SAFE

Safety · Airport · Fit life · Dress the part

The Full Roster

All 19 Rules

Each one is a policy for how you train — so your hours buy progress, not repeats.

  1. Complete ground school before flight training
  2. Choose schools with proven results
  3. Control how you pay
  4. Insist on structured lesson plans
  5. Invest in the instructor relationship
  6. Master checklists, flows, and radios early
  7. Stay fifteen minutes ahead
  8. Consider aircraft ownership strategically
  9. Train in weather and busy airspace
  10. Study in pairs
  11. Fly with seasoned pilots
  12. Explore every department
  13. Dress like the professional you are
  14. Protect your life outside the cockpit
  15. Practice old-school fundamentals
  16. Seek mentors for every season
  17. Demand precision, not perfection
  18. Live at the airport
  19. Stack the odds in favor of safety

Ethos You Can Check

Written by someone who’s paid the hours — and taught them

1,833Total Hours
633Turbine
792Dual Given
100%Checkride Pass

Ethan Collins — Pilatus PC-12 captain, CFI/CFII, and avionics specialist. He wrote these rules so student pilots stop funding the same expensive lessons he has watched burn budgets for years.

Tutoring & consulting: [email protected] · 803-497-2245

From the Ramp

What changed for students who read it

“Rule #1 alone would have saved me three hours of aimless Hobbs. That’s real money I can’t get back.”

Marcus T. · Private pilot student, Texas

“I hand the PILOT checklist to every new student. Less wandering, fewer redo lessons, clearer prep before they show up.”

Sarah K. · CFI, Carolinas

“The pay-smart rules stopped me from dumping cash into a block that wasn’t serving me. Wish I’d read it on day one.”

James R. · Instrument student, Ohio

“Career changer. This is the briefing my first school never gave me — especially how to not waste dual time.”

Five Languages

Read in your language

English Kindle edition on Amazon. Free 7-page preview here on pilotrules.com.

ENEnglishKindle ESEspañolComing soon HIहिन्दीComing soon ZH中文Coming soon ARالعربيةComing soon
Act Now

Kindle & Kindle Unlimited

Spend $9.99. Stop spending $200 on lessons you weren’t ready for.

Get the complete field guide, the 19 nose-art cards, and the PILOT memory system — then walk into your next lesson already ahead of the airplane.

$9.99 Kindle edition · less than 3 minutes of dual time

Get 19 Rules on Amazon Kindle

Still deciding? Read the free preview — then spend your next hours on progress.